How to disable liquid glass in iOS 26?

Lemmony wrote:

I am having trouble with this new update too. I suffer from migraines and vestibular imbalance. This animation of the apps bouncing about and effects on anything I open is making me queasy. Will have to return to old iOS if they can’t switch it off for people like me.

Read this user tip, which explains how to turn off the animations --> Liquid Glass - Love It Or Hate It - It's … - Apple Community

Hi everyone,

I’ve been struggling with severe eye strain on iPadOS 26 just like many of you. I posted on different forums, tried every suggestion, and almost gave up on my device — until I finally found a fix that completely solved the issue for me. It worked 100% on my iPad Air, and I hope it helps you too.

Here is the exact 3-step method that fixed the Liquid Glass / UI discomfort / eye strain problem:

1️⃣ Turn OFF these Accessibility settings

Go to Settings → Accessibility → Display & Text Size

Make sure the following are OFF:

Reduce Transparency → OFF

Increase Contrast → OFF

Reduce White Point → OFF

2️⃣ Update to iPadOS 26.1

26.1 adjusts some Liquid Glass behaviors — this step is required before applying the fix.

3️⃣ The actual fix: Change Liquid Glass to “Tinted”

After update to iPadOS26 you will reach a new menu;

Settings → Display & Brightness → Liquid Glass

and select Tinted from there.

This instantly removes the harsh glare and restores a stable, comfortable screen appearance.

✅ Result

After these steps:

Eye strain disappeared

Text readability improved

UI glare and shimmer were gone

The screen felt like pre-iPadOS-26 again

I hope this helps some of you as much as it helped me.

Feel free to reply if it works (or doesn’t) 

Breathe20 wrote:

I put the background on my iphone 16 navy blue and this has helped the icons look clearer and more visible. Also enlarged the icons. I don't like the glass look at all, it's especially difficult for people with any kind of sight limitations. Apple needs to address this issue for people with disabilities and for anyone who wants a choice to set their screen to pre-glass state.

Did you read this and try the settings changes which are available to you --> Liquid Glass - Love It Or Hate It - It's … - Apple Community

Otherwise, telling only other users what you think Apple needs to address, will not be noticed by anyone at Apple from posting on this user to user only forum. But you can tell Apple what you think they need to do here --> Feedback - iPhone - Apple

“NO”, I really hate that future it’s so annoying but unfortunately there’s no options to disable it.

Unbest72 wrote:

“NO”, I really hate that future it’s so annoying but unfortunately there’s no options to disable it.

Disabling the future would be unwise.

iOS 26 can’t go back. Reducing transparency helped alot for the Home Screen.

[Edited by Moderator]

margit85 wrote:

just want my old settings back.

That is not an option.

You can let Apple know your thoughts here:

Product Feedback - Apple

Reduce transparency in settings !

You can let Apple know about your concerns here -

Feedback - iPhone - Apple

“release needs to have a way to turn off liquid glass.”

it is not a skin you can turn off or change, it is written into the iOS

You had 5 weeks to test it out in public beta. Missed your chance. Maybe next time.

Reduce motion, unfortunately, does nothing to eliminate the app open effects where the corners are rounded as it opens and then kind of “flicker” into place. It is awful for those of us that really can’t abide visual distractions. I think I’m going to revert to iOS 18.7 pending some interface cleanup in iOS 26. iPhone SE 2020.

I, too, dislike the forced dark mode on the lock screen. Why anyone would want it to be difficult to read the time on a quick press of the lock button to wake is beyond me. Thankfully, you can at least customize the lock screen and toggle the time display to solid (turn off glass), at least.

Dear Apple, my phone is a tool, not an object de art. Need unobtrusive, not “in my face” design.

I upgraded to the first developer beta of iOS26 and hated the glass theme.

It is 100% doable and quite simple to go back to iOS 18 if you have a Mac and cable capable of data transfer (not just a cheap charger cable). I know this because I did it.

Note: doing it will install a fresh version of IOS18 as the backup created will be an IOS26 back and won’t work so you’ll lose any existing data. But it’s definitely doable.

Totatora wrote:

I upgraded to the first developer beta of iOS26 and hated the glass theme.

It is 100% doable and quite simple to go back to iOS 18 if you have a Mac and cable capable of data transfer (not just a cheap charger cable). I know this because I did it.

Note: doing it will install a fresh version of IOS18 as the backup created will be an IOS26 back and won’t work so you’ll lose any existing data. But it’s definitely doable.

It's NOT doable if someone installed iOS 26 last week when it was officially released.

Liquid glass makes me dizzy and sick to my stomach. This will definitely help reduce me using my iPhone.

The only thing that slightly helps is changing the background to a solid color.

How do we request a change from apple? Don’t want a product that makes me physically sick.

You can change your Home Screen background to black - which is better for making app logos clearer anyway. You can also adjust Liquid Glass by pressing on Home Screen until apps jiggle, and then clicking edit in top left corner to change transparency and colours. I’ve used it for 5 days now and like all changes in life, you get used to it quite quickly. I like it now.

Please don’t change to Android - you’ll seriously regret the lack of general security and miss the Apple OS ecosystem.